Brief Summary
This project was a collaboration between TrustPoint Hospital, the Rutherford County Archaeological Society, the Middle Tennessee Metal Detector’s Club, and the Stones River National Battlefield. The project was directed by archaeologists Laura Bartel, M.A. and Philip Hodge, M.A.. The purpose of the project was to do cultural resource management salvage research on approximately 11 acres of land adjacent to the Stones River National Battlefield Park, before construction began on the TrustPoint Hospital Expansion off Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Written records and maps indicate that the area saw action during the Civil War and specifically during the Battle of Stones River. Our objectives were to recover artifacts and map their location. This was strictly a time limited recovery project and no systematic excavation was involved. Battlefield recovery archaeology is often done in collaboration with metal detectorists and we were fortunate to have a great crew. Zada Law, Director of the Geospatial Research Center at MTSU and Matthew Whitten, a MTSU graduate student coordinated the GPS/GIS mapping methodology. Mapping of artifacts using GPS coordinates and a GIS data recovery program provides a spatial record of their location. This information will be invaluable in aiding the understanding and interpretation of what happened at this historic place and with regards to activities during the Civil War in general. Fieldwork was done over two weekends in May 2017 by 40 volunteers. We recovered and mapped 200 artifacts including minie bullets, a bayonet, horseshoes, a stirrup, cannonball and artillery fragments, buckles, and a spoon fragment. The artifacts are being donated to the Stones River National Battlefield by TrustPoint CEO Dr. Jeffrey Woods. A report by RCAS is forthcoming.
Rutherford County Archaeological Society 